nglish vessel, the 'Britannia,' had been lost less than
two years before on the west coast of Australia.

"The Irishman had never heard of this wreck, but, to the great surprise
of the bystanders, one of his servants came forward and said,--

"'My lord, praise and thank God! If Captain Grant is still living, he is
living on the Australian shores.'

"'Who are you?' asked Lord Glenarvan.

"'A Scotchman like yourself, my lord,' replied the man; 'I am one of
Captain Grant's crew--one of the castaways of the "Britannia.'"

"This man was called Ayrton. He was, in fact, the boatswain's mate of
the 'Britannia,' as his papers showed. But, separated from Captain Grant
at the moment when the ship struck upon the rocks, he had till then
believed that the captain with all his crew had perished, and that he,
Ayrton, was the sole survivor of the 'Britannia.'

"'Only,' he added, 'it was not on the west coast, but on the east coast
of Australia that the vessel was lost, and if Captain Grant is still
living, as his document indicates, he is a prisoner among the natives,
and it is on the other coast that he must be looked for.'

"This man spoke in a frank voice and with a confident look; his words
could not be doubted. The irishman, in whose service he had been for
more than a year, answered for his trustworthiness. Lord Glenarvan,
therefore, believed in the fidelity of this man and, by his advice,
resolved to cross Australia, following the thirty-seventh parallel. Lord
Glenarvan, his wife, the two children, the major, the Frenchman, Captain
Mangles, and a few sailors composed the little band under the command
of Ayrton, while the 'Duncan,' under charge of the mate, Tom Austin,
proceeded to Melbourne, there to await Lord Glenarvan's instructions.

"They set out on the 23rd of December, 1854.

"It is time to say that Ayrton was a traitor. He was, indeed, the
boatswain's mate of the 'Britannia,' but, after some dispute with his
captain, he endeavored to incite the crew to mutiny and seize the ship,
and Captain Grant had landed him, on the 8th of April, 1852, on the
west coast of Australia, and then sailed, leaving him there, as was only
just.

"Therefore this wretched man knew nothing of the wreck of the
'Britannia'; he had just heard of it from Glenarvan's account. Since his
abandonment, he had become, under the name of Ben Joyce, the leader of
the escaped convicts; and if he boldly maintained that the wreck had
taken place on t